Orientation
by Alory Shannon
Summary: One-shot drabble. A certain question is raised, much to Sasuke’s annoyance…but annoying things don’t always turn out to be wholly unpleasant in the end. SasuSaku.


"So…what, are you gay or something?"

Sasuke goes utterly (dangerously) still at the question; he stays that way, frozen motionless, for a good ten seconds before slowly turning back to face Naruto fully, eyes narrowed in an ominously scarlet glare.

_**"What."**_

It's not a word so much as it is a low snarl, and even that hardly makes it out past the last Uchiha's barred teeth.

Naruto, reckless and indomitable and oftentimes absolutely clueless as he is, is well accustomed to being on the receiving end of Sasuke's temper; he doesn't even flinch before elaborating on his question. "I mean, half of the other Jounin our age are _married_ by now, or at least shacked up together, and you still haven't even been out on a date since Sakura-chan and I dragged your ass back here five years ago." The blonde rubs his chin thoughtfully, eyeing his best friend critically (and perhaps a little warily as well, as if suddenly not too keen on being alone with him so deep in the forest). "You _did_ spend three years with that sicko snake-freak, so I guess—"

Sasuke's expression has become positively murderous; he looks like he's about five seconds away from tearing out Naruto's intestines and choking him with them, Hokage-in-waiting or not. _"I am NOT gay, moron."_

Naruto's face suddenly breaks into a wide, toothy grin, and there's a sparkle of challenge in his eye. Sasuke has seen this expression before, and it always means trouble, but at the moment he's too angry to care.

"Fine! Prove it, teme! Right now."

He really should've seen _that_ one coming, but the Uchiha heir is honestly still too pissed off that Naruto felt the need to ask that stupid question in the first place to consider the fact that he's undoubtedly being manipulated here, and the challenge has been issued, and there was simply no backing away from a rival's serious challenge, regardless of the potential for embarrassment.

"And just how do you expect me to do that, dumbass?"

"Get creative," is all the whisker-faced blonde says before nodding at something behind Sasuke. The raven-haired prodigy has absolutely zero intention of turning around, until—

"Naruto? Sasuke-kun? What're you two doing here?"

And suddenly this all makes perfect sense.

This is not a game that Sasuke is willing to play, however, so he just glowers at Naruto before half turning to face their pink-haired former teammate, his mouth set in a sullen frown.

"Hiya, Sakura-chan~!" Naruto chirps, his grin so wide and innocent and completely guileless that Sasuke does a quick double-take, his own expression full of annoyance and disbelief. "What took ya so long? Somethin' happen at the hospital?" The blonde has learned over the years that the best way to avoid answering questions without anyone _realising_ that you're doing so is to ask a lot of questions of your own, questions that your target will want to answer at length.

It only halfway works on Sakura. "No, everything's fine," she replies as she steps into the clearing. Her attention is already settled largely on the Uchiha, Naruto's reasons for calling her out into the middle of nowhere forgotten for the moment. "Sasuke-kun—"

Before she can ask him how he's been (or more likely tell him off for skipping his last four post-mission physical exams), Sasuke is leaving, stalking past her--but not quite: his hand catches the crook of her elbow, towing her along after him. He can hear Naruto cat-calling after them, but he blocks out the sound and continues pulling Sakura after him at a good pace, only slowing once the blonde's obnoxious voice has faded away into the forest's soothing susurrus.

Sakura matches pace with him, her frown curious, one eyebrow quirked with a mixture of skepticism and annoyance. "What was that all about?"

At that moment, Sasuke stops--he's just realised that he's going the wrong way, heading deeper into the forest rather than out of it. Inwardly swearing a blue streak at his supposed best friend, he gives a low growl and sets to work figuring out which way they _should_ be going. It takes him longer than usual, yet another annoyance, though whether the difficultly stems from how dark and thick this section of the forest is this late in the afternoon, his still-simmering anger at Naruto, or his frustration at himself for allowing this situation to occur at all is anyone's guess. (The surprising smoothness of Sakura's skin, the oddity of voluntarily touching someone, and the strange, unsettled feeling he's getting in the pit of his stomach from being alone with his former teammate out here in the middle of nowhere _certainly_ don't have any effect on his calculations, of course.)

Sakura's gone quiet--she does that fairly often now, doesn't seem to feel the need to fill the air between them with inane chatter as her twelve-year-old self had, one of many, many reminders that Sakura has changed, grown, and grown up.

Her short temper and noticeably sharper tongue are two more such reminders.

"It's that way, if you want to go back to the Village," she says, almost _drawls,_ her tone is so wry, and points to her left.

"I know that," Sasuke snaps, and it's not entirely a lie because he _would_ have known had he been allowed another minute or so for his calculations. He huffs out a sigh that is really more of a growl, because his pride forces him to turn decisively to _his_ left (her right) and take them even deeper into the forest, his hand still clamped firmly around her arm just above her elbow.

After another few minutes of tense silence and forced walking, Sakura stops, her arm almost melting out of his grasp, she pulls away so easily. It's not that she doesn't trust him (she does more or less, and for better or worse) or that she's frightened of him (she can more than hold her own against him now, and since his return she's put him _into_ the hospital nearly as many times as she's gotten him out of it) or that she doesn't _want_ to go with him, but Sakura is not the type to blindly follow anyone, not anymore.

"Where are we going?" Her question demands an answer, and it's heavy on the implied _tell me or I'm leaving right now_, but Sasuke doesn't really have an answer to give, so instead he just gives an awkward one-shouldered shrug, the hand he'd held onto her arm with unconsciously clenching and unclenching, as if missing that contact.

Sakura doesn't move for a long moment, eyes that are a deeper green and a lot older than he remembers methodically scanning Sasuke's face and frame, taking in all sorts of little cues from his body language before rising to meet his gaze, her own face set in that solemn _I will not be taking any of your bullshit_ expression that she wears so often these days, and simple as that, she knows that he actually _was_ lost and that he's upset about something and that there's no way he's going back to Village with her just yet, and also… In her peripheral vision, she watches his hand opening and closing, and the smallest trace of a smile touches her lips, though the happy amusement gleaming in her eyes lends it the power of a full-blown Naruto-size grin.

Once again faced with a smile that he knows can't mean anything good, Sasuke closes his eyes, releases a long, slow breath through his nose, and wonders what exactly he's just given away.

It's then that the sound of falling water catches at his ears, along with the faint scent of rain, a thick moisture in the air--a blessing, because this gives him that reason he'd been missing, he's suddenly certain of where they are, and he opens his eyes once more.

"There's a waterfall with a cave behind it nearby. I used to go there to train." The uncertainty and irritation betrayed by his body language instantly fade away, supplanted by his typical calmly straightforward manner, and he answers Sakura's next question almost before she can think it. "It's going to start pouring soon; we'd never make it back to Konoha in time." He starts to turn, maintaining eye contact as long as possible, a subtle play for dominance, as is the deceptively casual almost-command he couples it with: "Come on."

None of this goes unnoticed by Sakura, and for an instant her eyes narrow…then she simply smiles and does as he says, though there's a shade of defiance and an edge of determination in the turn of her lips. As she falls into step beside him, she makes her own play for the dominant role, boldly slipping her hand into his, lacing their fingers together tightly even as the first fat raindrops splatter to the ground before their feet.

"Let's run for it."


End file.
